COP Keating: fresh account of bloody US battle
Updated on 12 October 2009
Fresh details have emerged of a bloody battle between US forces and the Taliban in which eight American soldiers were killed.
A new account explains how a US outpost in Afghanistan was "completely overrun" by insurgents as American soldiers battled for their lives.
Channel 4 News correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, and cameraman Stuart Webb, were embedded at the base, known as COP Keating, in Nuristan province, just weeks before the attack.
Their coverage gave an insight into the unique pressure the US base faced, as it was situated in a trough surrounded by high ground.
The new account was posted on a US website at the weekend, and was allegedly written by a member of the US military who heard the entire battle on his satellite radio.
The so-called "ear-witness" account says: "I want people to know that there are still some great Americans who serve in the US Army, fighting for freedom, who will probably never be given the due they deserve."
It desbribes how the conflict escalated from "small arms fire" in the morning to a full-blown battle later on Saturday October 3, as the US soldiers found themselves surrounded by Taliban.
It says: "He [US troop commander] said that if he did not get help soon, they were going to be overrun. He had consolidated the soldiers he had, to include dead and wounded, in a tight perimeter on part of his camp.
"He advised that the Afghan National Army (ANA) side of the camp was completely overrun and was on fire.
"The insurgents had gotten into his perimeter where the ANA latrine bordered his perimeter, after they had overrun the ANA camp. His Entry Control Point, where some Afghan Security Guards, had been had been overrun."
COP Keating, which is now longer in use, was surrounded by high ground, leading many to wonder why US forces had been placed in such a strategically perilous position. The person who wrote the account says he or she was based in Laghman province as the battle unfolded.
The account continued: "As they [US forces] regained some lost ground, the Troop Commander said that he was finding some of his unaccounted for soldiers, and that they were killed in action. He gave their battle roster numbers...
"Once the jets arrived overhead, they began to drop bombs on the masses, the swarms of insurgents.
"Usually, the insurgents conduct a raid at dawn, do their damage, and flee. Not this day. I looked at my watch, and it was after 10pm and the insurgents were still attacking, even though it should have become clear to them after the close air arrived that they could no longer hope to completely overrun the camp."
